Garment holding means



Sept. 18, 1945. ai P. BOHN 2,385,053 GARMENT HOLDING MEANS Filed Sept.28, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet l IN V EN TOR.

Sept. 18,1945. B. P. BOHN 2,385,053

GARMENT HOLDING MEANS Filed Sept. 28, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Patented Sept. 18, 1945 x UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GARMENT HOLDING SBeatrice P. Bohn, Sea Girt, N. J.

Application September 28, 1944, Serial No. 556,251

Claims.

This invention relates, generally, to improvements in means forcompactly arranging and holding garments subject to the packing thereofinto luggage or other containers for transport or storage, whereby thegarments are so disposed and held as to be firmly supported againstrumpling, creasing and like undesirable mussing.

Various devices have been heretofore provided for supporting garments insuspended or folded condition within trunks, suit cases and likearticles of luggage. Such devices usually included a hanger or frameupon which the garments were mounted, but in most cases the garments intheir entirety were not firmly held against shifting on the support, oragainst movement within the container, with the result that undesirablerumpling, creasing and oher mussing effects were not entirely avoided.

Having thi in view, it is an object of this invention to provide a novelmeans for manipulating and holding garments in such manner that the sameare smoothly rolled upon themselves; whereby in their entirety-thegarments are firmly held both against bodily shifting as well as againstmovement of their parts relatively one to another so that rumpling,creasing or other undesired mussing efiect are avoided, whil at the sametime the garments are reduced to small bulk for convenient packing intoluggage or other like containers for transport or storage.

Th invention has for another object to provide a novel garmentsupporting means operative to smoothly roll the garment or garments uponitself or themselves, said means further including a novel protectivecovering for the envelopment of the garment or garments so as to notonly protect the'same against dust and soiling but also to separatecontiguous convolutions of the rolled garments one from another,whereby' to prevent entanglement of trimming, laces or other partsthereof which might involve risk of injury thereto. i

. The invention has for a more specific object to provide novel garmentsupporting means comprising a hanger frame between the dependent arms ofwhich is mounted a spring actuated roller of the automatic detentrelease type, said roller being equipped with means to clamp an endportion of a garment thereto, whereby upon spring actuated rotation ofthe roller the garment will be smoothly rolled upon and about thelatter; and means also attached to the roller being further provided forenveloping the garment preparatory to rolling the same, whereby toprotect it and separate contiguous convolutions thereof when rolled.

Another object of the invention is to provide the hanger frame of theroller with a shiftably 1 adjustable suspension means, whereby to permitsaid suspension means to be aligned to the center of gravity of garmentsas attached to the roller so as to facilitate the operations of eitherrolling the garments on to or from the latter.

Other objects of this invention, not at this time more particularlyenumerated, will be understood from the following detailed descriptionof the same.

An illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanyingdrawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a face view of the garment holding means of this inventionwith its garment covering envelope extended and opened to expose theroller ,for application of a garment thereto and within saidyenvelope;Fig. 2 is a similar view with the envelope extended but closed inenveloping relation to the garment; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal verticalsection taken on line 3-3 in Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is an end elevationalview of the garment holding means with the enveloped garment rolleduponthe rollerthereof and ready to be deposited in luggage or a likecontainer.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of the shiftablyadjustable suspension means with which the roller hanger or yoke frameis provided.

Similar characters of reference are employed in the above-describedviews to indicate corresponding parts.

Referring to the drawings, the novel garment holding means comprises aspring actuated roller ID of the automatic detent release type, beingsubstantially the same in construction and operation as that of thefamiliar spring actuated window shade roller.

Means for mounting the roller l0 subject to suspension when required,from a stationary support (not shown), comprises a hanger member or yokeframe formed by a top bar I I having arms I 2 dependent from theopposite ends thereof. Said frame arms l2 each terminate in a suitableperforate bearing element l3, which are respectively adapted to receivethe journal stud [4 which projects from one end of the roller In, andthe key lug I5 of the roller spring and detent shaft which projects fromthe opposite end of said roller l0. Shiftably adjustable on the top barof the hanger member or yoke is a suspension hook means. In a preferredform there- 'of, said suspension hook means comprises a sleeve l6slidably mounted on the top bar Said sleeve is provided intermediate itsends with an angular boss IT, in which is fixed a suspension hook memberi8 for extension therefrom. Said sleeve is provided at one or both endsthereof with tapered externally screw-threaded split end portions l9,upon which are threaded manipulatable clamp nuts 20. When said clampnuts 20 are loosened, the sleeve and its hook member may be shifted ineither direction along the top bar, and, when disposed in a desiredposition upon the latter, may be releasably fixed thereon by turninghome the clamp nuts, whereby to contract the split end portions l9 intostrong gripping and holding relation to said top bar H.

Afiixed to and along one side of the roller I0, to initially dependtherefrom, is the main body section 21 of a garment closure envelope,the same having an end closure portion 22 extending upwardly beyond theroller l0. Foldably connected with one longitudinal margin of said mainbody section 2| is a cover section 23 which is adapted to be infoldedfrom an open position (see Fig. 1) across the body section 2| to aclosed position (see Fig. 2). Said garment enclosure envelope thusconstituted may be made of any suitable flexible sheet material, such e.g. as a textile fabric.

Suitable cooperative fastener means are provided for respectivelyholding the cover section 23 and the end closure portion 22 in closedrelation to said body section 2|, whereby to enclose a garment withinthe closure envelope formed by said parts. Preferably the fastener meansfor securing the cover section 23 in closed relation to the body section2| comprises cooperative slide fastener means 24, one section 25 ofwhich is secured to the free longitudinal edge of the main body section2|, and the other section 26 of which is secured to the freelongitudinal edge of the cover section 23. Similarly, the fastener meansfor securing the end closure portion 22 in closed relation to theenvelope structure preferably comprises cooperative slide I fastenermeans 21, one section 28 ofwhich is securedto the transverse free edgeof said end closure portion 22, and the other section 29 of which issecured in suitably located transverse extension to the outer face ofsaid cover section 23.

On the side thereof opposite to that to which the above-describedclosure envelope is attached, the roller If] is provided with adetachable clamp bar 30 for extension along the face thereof. Said clampbar may be provided at its ends with suitable releaseable fasteningmeans, such e. g. as projecting screw-threaded studs 3| afilxed to theroller body, over which perforate end portions of the clamp bar maybe-engaged, and thereby retained in place by wing nuts 32 applicable tosaid studs.

In the use of the novel garment holding means, the hanger member or yokeframe is suspended by its hook member l8 from a suitable stationarysupport, whereupon the closure envelope is drawn down from the roller IDto extended position, thus rotating the roller against the tension ofits spring so as to accumulate and store tension in the latter forimparting subsequent reverse winding movement to the roller, when thelatter is released from detent restraint. When the closure envelope isthus extended, the slide fastener means 21 is released to separate itssec tions 28 and 29, to therefore permit the end closure portion 22 tobe swung up to open position, whereupon the slide fastener means 24 is,

similarly released to separate its sections 25 and 26 to permit thecover section 23 to be out-swung to open position (see Fig. 1). When theclosure envelope is thus opened, the roller ID will be exposed foroperative attachment of a garment G thereto.

To apply the garment G to the roller If], the clamp bar 39 is firstdetached from the roller, whereupon the upper end of the garment G isapplied against and along the surface of the roller, and then the clampbar 39 is applied over the garment end and affixed to the roller,whereby to clamp the garment to the latter so as to hang therefromoutspread over the main body section 2| of the closure envelope (seeFig. 1).

After the garment G has been affixed to the roller H] forsuspensiontherefrom as described, the closure envelope is closed toenvelop the garment. This is done by infolding the cover section 23 overthe garment G, and then securing said cover section in garment enclosingrelation to the main body section 2| by closing the slide fastener means24. After the cover section 23 has been closed and secured, the endclosure portion 22 is swung down over and around the roller l0, and inturn secured in closed position by closing the slide fastener means 27,whereupon the roller suspended garment is entirely enveloped by theclosure envelope (see Figs. 2 and 3).

The garment having been attached to the roller I0 and enclosed in theenclosure envelope, the garment envelope assembly is-ready to be rolledup on and around the roller. This is done by pulling down on theassembly to release the roller from detent restraint, so that theaccumulated tension of the roller spring will rotate the roller indirection to wind up the enveloped garment on and around the roller (seeFig. 4), whereupon the garment is smoothly convolved and firmly heldagainst shifting, rumpling or mussing, as well as being protected by theclosure envelope against dust, dirt or soiling.

To facilitate smoth garment rolling or unrolling of the roller, theWhole assembly, as suspended from a stationary support by the hangermember or yoke frame, should be so balanced as to hangperpendicularly'from said support. It sometimes happens that thesupported garment is so designed, or is so embellished with variouslydisposed trimming or ornament, that its center of gravity is such as toswing the assembly out of perpendicular to one side or the other. Insuch case, this condition may be corrected, and the assembly caused tohang in desired perpendicular disposition, by shifting the suspensionhook means of the hanger member or yoke frame to and affixing the samein an adjusted position on the top bar H of the latter, so as to bringsaid suspension hook means into alignment with the center of gravity ofsuch garment.

Not only does the novel garment holding means of this invention permitdisposition of a garment applied thereto in a smoothly and compactlyrolled mass of reduced bulk convenient for deposit in a luggage orcontainer compartment, but also the same may be used to hang thegarment, at journeys end in a closet or other place, and as stillprotected by the closure envelope, in outdrawnextended and dependentrelation to the roller until such time as use thereof is desired.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. A device for the purposes described comprisinga spring actuatedroller of the automatic. de-

tent release type, a hanger yoke between the arms of which said rolleris mounted, said hanger yoke having a shiftably adjustable hanger hookfor suspending the device from a stationary support, means carried bysaid roller for clamping thereto a garment for initial suspensiontherefrom, a closure envelope also afiixed to said roller to initiallydepend therefrom, said closure envelope being manipulatable to envelopea garment dependent from said roller, and said garment and envelopingclosure envelope being adapted by actuation of said roller to be woundupon and about the same.

2. A device for the purposes described comprising a spring actuatedroller of the automatic detent release type, a hanger yoke between thearms of which said roller is mounted, means carried by said roller forclamping thereto a garment for initial suspension therefrom, a garmentenclosing means comprising a body section affixed to said roller todepend therefrom behind a suspended garment, said body section having acover section connected therewith and manipulatable to fold over thesuspended garment to enclose the latter between the same and said bodysection, said body and cover section having cooperative means forsecuring the same in closed together relation, and the thus enclosedgarment being adapted by actuation of said roller to be wound upon andabout the same.

3. A device for the purposes described comprising a spring actuatedroller of the automatic detent release type, a hanger yoke between thearms of which said roller is mounted, said hanger yoke having ashiftably adjustable hanger hook for suspending the device from astationary support, means carried by said roller for clamping thereto agarment for initial suspension therefrom, a garment enclosing meanscomprising a body section affixed to said roller to depend therefrombehind a suspended garment, said body section having a cover sectionconnected therewith and manipulatable to fold over the suspended garmentto enclose the latter between the same and said body section, said bodyand cover section having cooperative means for securing the same inclosed together relation, and the thus enclosed garment being adapted byactuation of said-roller to be Wound upon and about the same.

4. A device for the purposes described comprising a spring actuatedroller of the automatic detent release type, a hanger yoke between thearms of which said roller is mounted, means carried by said roller forclamping thereto a garment for initial suspension therefrom, a garmentenclosing means made of flexible material comprising a body sectionaffixed to said roller to depend there- 'from behind a suspendedgarment, said body section having a cover section connected with oneside edge thereof so as to be inwardly foldable over the suspendedgarment whereby to enclose the latter between the same and said bodysection, said body and cover section having cooperative means forsecuring the same in closed together relation, said body section havingan end closure portion extending from its upper end beyond said roller,said end closure portion being downwardly foldable over the roller andclosed cover section, said end closure portion and cover section havingcooperative means for securing the former in closed condition, and thethus enclosed garment being adapted by actuation of said roller to be,

wound upon and about the same.

5. A device for the purposes described as defined in claim 4, whereinsaid hanger yoke is provided with a shiftably adjustable hanger hook forsuspending the device from a stationary support.

BEATRICE P. BOI-IN.

